John Jones Create Bespoke Leather Frame

Leather designer Bill Amberg has created bespoke pieces for some of the world’s most prestigious institutions from Asprey and Claridges in London to Burberry in Milan and lightweight, fireproof leather for Lufthansa Technic’s specialist planes.
As part of the London Festival of Architecture John Jones have worked with Bill Amberg to produce a beautiful bespoke leather frame. The frame will house one of a series of photographs customised with art and design by some of the country’s leading talents, displaying under-used parts of our urban landscape as areas of great potential. The project, a collaboration between charity Shelter and building design consultancy Urban Infill, seeks to encourage the viewer to look at London’s disused spaces in a different light and can also create their own ideas for the spaces on a public interactive wall.
The framed piece, along with the other works, will be for sale via silent auction, with all proceeds going to Shelter.

The exhibition closes and bidding ends at 6pm on Sunday 4 July.
For more information, click here.

John Jones Jumble Sale

June 5th-6th 10am-4pm
Frames, Stretcher Bars, Canvas, Art and more...

As part of the first stages of our building expansion, we are selling our store of acquired bespoke frames in a huge variety of styles, sizes and finishes all at discount prices. The sale will also include artist canvases, stretchers and artwork perfect for a corporate environment. Funds generated will be dedicated to the future development of our new, not for profit Project Space.

Limited additional dates are available by appointment.
Please contact:

sales.assistant@johnjones.co.uk
Transport Links: 1 minute from Finsbury Park Underground, Overground and Bus Station (Wells Terrace Exit)

Certified cheque or cash only
Ample Parking space for cars, vans and lorries making collections
Our Jumble Sale runs alongside the Art Car Boot Fair, so once you find a bargain at the car boot head over to John Jones to find a bargain deal on a frame!

Full Throttle - Frames by John Jones

Last night a private view was held for Full Throttle the second part of a retrospective showcasing the work of legendary photography Bob Carlos Clarke. The Little Black Gallery in Chelsea is hosting the exhibition, framed by John Jones, which features a selection of pictures from Bob’s 30 year career.

Bob Carlos Clarke’s work has attracted much controversy over the years and this exhibition is no exception. Within days of it going on display the police received anonymous complaints about the images on display, particularly Whip Girl (shown above, at the Luciano Restaurant, London) and Tite Street.

After a visit from the police the gallery to move this piece, so it could not been seen from the street. Although the police officer was careful to state that this was not the place to have a debate about “art versus pornography”, the topic has been picked up on by the press who are asking the inevitable questions about this kind of censorship, in a society where sexual imagery is increasingly prevalent.

With many theatres now offering film style advisory ratings for their plays, is there a pressure on art galleries to follow suit? Of course, these debates are nothing new, art has always caused controversy and controversy will always spark interest. Bob Carlos Clarke’s work has become highly collectable and this is reflected in the sales of the pieces currently on display.

With the dispute continuing, the gallery has so far made the decision not to move Tite Street and has seen greatly increased numbers of attendees at the exhibition.

Full Throttle will run until 5th June, entry is free.
For more information click here.

John Jones Artist in Residence Mariana Heilmann

Thankfully to Kate and Lizzie, I had a second month as resident artist at John Jones. The residency has now finished, and I moved out of the studio last Monday.

For two months I worked at the very core of the workshops at John Jones. Walking to and from my studio I had the privilege of witnessing the entire process of frame making; from where the raw wood arrives to where the frames are glazed, sealed and wrapped for delivery and everything in-between.

The myriad of sounds, smells and sights was an inspiration and a lesson each day; the planing, blade cutting, the forming, the sanding, the cutting, the joining, the spraying, the sanding again, the gessoing, the painting, the gilding, the polishing, the soldering, the fixing, the sticking, the bonding, the mounting, the stretching and so on.

Because of the very busy frame making schedule I did not dare to disturb and ask too many questions, but there were wonderful people who, at coffee breaks visited me, brought me materials, and told me about their particular expertise. The interaction with them was fundamental to the work I was able to carry out, for without them, I would have not had the materials that they brought to my attention and keenly collected for me, nor the wonderful coffee break chats.

What a wealth of great and talented people, all highly skilled both in their specialty, and some as artists as well! Tabs' beautiful painted insects and Finoula's stunning drawings are fresh in my mind.

The extra month allowed me to, not only complete 3 commissions, but also gave me the opportunity to investigate the possibilities of the many materials that members of the team at JJ brought to my attention. At first I made small "sketches" with each material. I had, polishing wheels, blades, sanding wheels, acrylic and aluminum cut offs, sand paper, cutting mats, crinoline paper, welding rods and more. All these materials had either been used, or were a bi product of making another. Some of the investigations have remained just sketches for now and others I concluded and framed myself in Perspex boxes.

Though I did the mounting myself, I think that just being surrounded by the world of framing, opened in me an awareness of placement within a given space. Much of the time spent on each piece was spent making the decisions on proportion and layout to enable the work to read the way I intended it.

For anyone interested in seeing what I did during some of my residency, a collection of 9 finished pieces are hanging in the Collection Space for the month of April. I see these as first steps in my investigations, and have plans to make larger scale versions of a few of those displayed.
In conjunction with what is exhibited, I also produced 12 small pieces that are spring boards for potential future ideas. Unfortunately I was not able to exhibit these studio works as one was made of blades and too dangerous!

It has been a great residency. Apart from the abundance of interesting materials to explore and having a great space in which to work, I think I have probably learned more than I realise. The accumulated exposure to the goings on at the workshops and the interaction with everyone at John Jones will, I am sure, contribute in big and small ways to the next steps I will take.

For anyone interested in keeping abreast of what I am doing, please feel free to email me; mariana@marianaheilmann.com.

Art Plus Music Party

The Whitechapel Gallery will hold its annual Art Plus Music Party on 22nd April. As part of its ongoing collaboration with the gallery, John Jones have been involved, framing the works for the charity auction, which will feature artists such as Varda Caivano, Bridget Riley and Thomas Ruff.

Alongside the auction, the evening will include a wide range of music, art and installation, to raise money for the gallery’s Education and Community Programme. Music will be supplied by The Broken Hearts, Jefferson Hack, Dan Lywood, Justin Robertson, Matthew Stone, The Voguettes, Wild Cat Will and Nathan Gregory Wilkins.

If this wasn’t enough, The Whitechapel Gallery has also set up a series of specially commissioned performances involving collaboration between well known musicians and artists. The lineup will feature names such as Bishi and Oscar Sol, Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, Barrie Cadogan and Darrin Mooney with The Kills' Jamie Hince and Katy England with Julie Verhoeven; Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Ari Benjamin Meyers and Jack Peñate.

If you’d like to find out more, book tickets, or take part in the auction please click here.

John Jones Cameo in New Art Film

Boogie Woogie is a comedy set in the contemporary London art world. Director Duncan Ward presents an all start cast including Christopher Lee, Amanda Seyfried, Gillian Anderson, Danny Huston, Heather Graham, Alan Cumming, and Joanna Lumley. Based on Danny Moynihan’s novel of the same name, Boogie Woogie casts a wickedly satirical eye over the darker side of the London art scene.

Exploring themes of debauchery and morality, the story centres around the discovery of a priceless work of art and the extreme lengths to which some of the contemporary art world’s major players will go to, to get their hands on it. Look out for a cameo from John Jones Ltd. Let us know if you spot us!

Boogie Woogie is due for general release on 16th April.

John Jones Welcomes The House of Fairytales

John Jones are excited to welcome the House of Fairytales print portfolio to their Projection space. The collection showcases 23 international artists who have produced a series of images inspired by folklore, fairytales and mythology. John Jones has collaborated with The House of Fairy Tales to create a series of beautiful frames that respond to each individual print within the series.

This unique collection was launched at The Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy in April 2008. Over two thirds of the edition is now housed in permanent collections all over the world including The Tate Collection, The National Museum of Wales, The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Government Art Collection and The British Airways Collection.

Established by the artists Deborah Curtis and Gavin Turk, The House Of Fairy Tales is a child-centred artist led project which draws on an extensive team of artists, performers, writers, educationalists, designers, musicians, film makers, dreamers and philosophers to create magical, parallel worlds where learning is play and play is directed learning.

Modern Moral Matters - Exhibition by Richard Hamilton

The Serpentine Gallery in London are currently displaying Modern Moral Matters; a series of artworks by British artist, Richard Hamilton.

The exhibition will feature installations, prints and paintings all based around the subjects of international politics, riots, terrorist acts and war. By displaying the political works of Hamilton in a fresh light, the exhibition seeks to examine the impact that changing media has had upon the way conflicts are reported.

Modern Moral Matters, also explores how Hamilton uses and reuses found materials, particularly photographs. A key example of this, Swingeing London, is housed in the John Jones Contemporary Art Collection.

The piece is part of a series of 10 different incarnations of the same press image, that of Mick Jagger and Hamilton’s then art dealer Robert Fraser’s arrest for drug possession. Reproduced as an oil painting, screenprint, etching, pencil, pastel and watercolour these will be in display beside the other works until 25th April 2010.

For more information on the John Jones Art Collection click here.

The Shoebox Art Auction

Last night The Kids Charity held an auction at the Haunch of Venison in Mayfair, selling over 40 works designed by some of the world’s leading contemporary artists. Damian Hirst, David Bailey, Marc Quinn and many others were asked to recreate their childhood bedrooms in a shoe box, mirroring a previous exhibition in which 125 children created their own shoebox rooms. The results ranged from true to life recreations (Daisy de Villeneuve) to “the room I wanted” (David Bailey) as well as more abstract interpretations (Zaha Hadid). A full list of works can be found on the Shoebox Auction website.

John Jones were delighted to be involved with the event, designing a unique way to display and protect the works of art, some of which sold for over £20,000. Our framing consultants created an elegant Perspex box which has a low reflective surface, protective glazing and sits on a smooth white tulip wood base. All proceeds from the Shoebox Art auction will go to supporting at risk children. For more information on our framing click here.

John Jones Artist in Residence Mariana Heilmann

Entry 3

Week 2 at JJ was mostly about working on my commission, Wave of Peace II...
At first I felt that it would be like crossing a never ending desert when I saw that huge area to cover.....no matter how many hours I put in, it seemed like I was not progressing AT ALL. As the week went on, I started to see that indeed I was covering ground, and the beauty of the way the light plays on the surface began to show.

Physically Wave of Peace is a tiring piece to make and a few times I was forced to change activity in order to not exacerbate pinched nerves and an achy back. The muscles in my hands also were pushed hard...

I took a visit to the Metalwork department where they make beautifully polished Aluminium and Brass frames. Paul, who himself is an artist and makes the most amazing robots and lamps out of discarded machine parts, (when not at John Jones) was very generous in his help and enthusiasm about what I am doing during his breaks. (Look at his website www.mechanical-alchemist.com ) At the end of one day, Paul and his two colleagues came like the ‘Three Kings’ to my studio bearing marvellous gifts of bits of soldering rods, metal filings, old polishing wheels and metal frame off cuts.

Today a photographer came from REX and took photos of my Blade Studies for some possible press....

Everyone at John Jones is extremely helpful and friendly. Italo, who is a HUOMO UNIVERSALE has put great lighting in the studio, set up shelves for me and set me up with two great working tables.